Dancing Black

I want to talk about the importance of black dance community. The art of dance is so beautifully crafted. It creates vulnerability and a sense of belonging. Speaking from a personal standpoint,  when I dance, there is this feeling of completeness. It is as if every part of me has come together, creating the fullness of who I was truly created to be. Dance, however, is also hard. Hard on the body, sometimes the mind and other times, your perspective. Much of my journey, up until last month, had caused my perspective of self to deprecate.

I had been in so many atmospheres, all vastly different, in a five-month span—somehow they all caused me to question my validity as an artist. Did I really have a space in this world of dance? Would I ever be taken seriously? Will I ever really become the artist I’ve always (literally) daydreamed about? Some places and situations were overwhelmingly arrogant and demeaning—others, racially charged (which was a bit much for me swallow when I came face to face with so much of it at once). There were genuine moments of struggle and those would be the times I gleaned from historical knowledge of Alvin Ailey, Janet Collins, Arthur Mitchell, Delores Brown, Raven Wilkinson...

Hope came alive as I would envision and think on those legendary black bodies and the shoulders I am now standing on. There were times I thought to myself, “If they can do it, so can I”. It was not until October 2019 that I witnessed a true and authentic “black bodies experience”; I’ll call it. Last month I was granted the incredible opportunity to Guest with Memphis’ Collage Dance Collective (I will spare you from all details because this blog will NEVER end. Lol) and it CHANGED MY LIFE. That sounds dramatic, right? Good! It was that dramatic!!! I now had a personal experience and living support system alongside the dance greats we know and love. For the first time, I felt comforted, safe, cared for and empowered. The black dance community is a force because a systematic dance world forced (and continues to, in some fashion) us into exclusivity. That made us huddle together and do what we know we could because our eyes and hearts were set on a goal, dream, vision. The black dance community is no stranger to isolation or bias opinion. Worn with pride and understanding and are the miscalculated rejections, along with strength, honor, and perseverance. The question of our competence and the love/hate relationship with our bodies and, because it doesn't quite add up with our abilities (according to some), is just one more reason why the black dance community is strength and refuge. Now, my understanding is deeper.

I will say, from the legends to Collage Dance Collective, the black dance community embraces and equips. Now, when I am in those rigid atmospheres, I can think on Lauren Anderson, Milton Myers, Paunika Jones, Kevin Thomas, and charge on...